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Permanent Link to “What Was Asked of Us” Reading Journal pg.1-54"
“What Was Asked of Us” Reading Journal pg.1-54<br />A theme that I was able to distinguish immediately in my novel, What Was Asked of Us, was brotherhood. Brotherhood was also very relevant in All Quiet on the Western Front. I realized that brotherhood was the sole purpose of staying alive at war. It seems to me that brotherhood gave the men a sense of unity and a reason to be alive. They all wanted to protect each other because they were all they had and they became family. A passage from my novel reads, “I went and spoke with the chaplain about that and let him know what had happened. He talked to me and tried to calm me down a little bit. He just told me that, you know, God knew what we were there for. He knew we were there to do the right thing. I knew I had to protect the guys around me, my brothers that were there with me. I kind of put it behind me, but every once in a while I’ll think about what happened—you know, Was it me that killed anybody on that bus? I didn’t physically go on the bus and check. We had marines that were on, and they came out telling what they seen and stuff. Everyone was dead, so I didn’t…There was no need for me to go on there” (Wood 13-14). Here, a soldier in the war blindly shot at civilians to make sure that his “brothers” would be alive. The war has made them so much like animals that once someone messed with them, they were ready to pounce. Just like the soldiers in the novel, What Was Asked of Us, the soldiers in, All Quiet on the Western Front, displayed the same emotions and feelings. An example of brotherhood is when Paul stayed with Kropp while he was injured and made sure that they were together so that he could watch over his “brother” and protect him. Another example of Paul showing brotherhood is when he rushes Kat to the dressing station even though there is a war raging around him and he was open for anyone to shoot. He was willing to give up his life for his comrade and he didn’t care. All of the soldiers come to love each other because when they are at war, it was hard to remember how to love and show affection and by the soldiers showing that they cared for each other, it portrayed for them a sense of calm and a sense of realism in that they were not alone and they could always count on their “brothers” to always be there for them.<br />